UPDATED: Archos Launches GPS Add-on For 605 WiFi

If, like us, you a big fan of Archos’ flagship 605 WiFi PMP then this is going to go down a treat…

Archos’ unambiguously named ‘GPS In-Car Holder’ doesn’t leave much to the imagination, but that doesn’t make it any less welcome.

Featuring either European, North America or China mapping via Tele Atlas from launch, the peripheral brings full voice turn-by-turn instruction and takes advantage of the 605’s touchscreen navigation. Postcode and POI searches are in there too along with traffic assistance, route planning, ‘speed control assistance’ (English: speed camera databases) and the ability to channel all instructions through your car’s FM stereo via the built in line-out.

Naturally enough, when not using the sat nav users (preferably ”passengers”) can also take advantage of the 605’s 30GB HDD and vast multimedia functionality to watch movies and TV shows or even surf the internet and check email via its built in WiFi.

“Archos is known for combining consumers’ favorite (sic) activities into one advanced portable device, and the new Archos 605 GPS is the latest example of this convergence”, said Henri Crohas, Archos founder and CEO. “No longer do consumers need a stand-alone GPS device, portable media player, photo viewer or even USB storage device. With our latest innovation, Archos helps you get where you’re going and entertains you once you get there.”

The GPS In-Car Holder goes on sale in May for £99 or can be bought bundled with a 605 WiFi for £299. Considering this latter price is less than you’d pay for most midrange Sat Navs it has to be said Archos has come up with a pretty compelling idea and TomTom, Navman, Garmin, NDrive it’s probably better if you look away now…

”’UPDATE”’ Archos has also just announced Adobe Flash 9 support for the 605 WiFi, web radio and a new licensing deal with movie studio Paramount.

”’UPDATE 2”’ The company’s TV+ system will also recurve a SlingPlayer-esque plug in for viewing home content remotely. This can be installed on laptops and, where available, some smartphones It will cost £29.99 when it launches by the end of Q2.